The Allegheny monkey flower gets its unusual name from the shape of its flower, fancifully
believed to resemble a monkey’s face when squeezed from behind. It is
a North American native, and prefers wet areas. The plant shown here was a few feet from
a pond, in damp, rich soil.

Identification: Plants grow 8-39" (20-100 cm) tall. The
stem is hairless and square in cross-section. Leaves are opposite, hairless, oblong or sometimes thin and lance-shaped,
emerging almost directly from the stem or wrapped partially around it. Flowers are ¾-1" (2-3 cm) in size, and bilaterally symmetrical—consisting of two mirror-image halves. The flowers are lavender-colored, with a yellow throat, with a two-lobed upper
lip and a lower larger, three-lobed lip. Flowers emerge in long stems sideways from the main stem.